And, John’s gentler “rebuke.” As American Morning co-anchors Kiran Chetry and John Roberts gave their audience wall-to-wall, riveting reportage of the rescue of the Chilean miners, they also provided a few unintended laughs as John “instructed” Kiran on the finer points of prayer and a “moment of silence.”
Perhaps, still sleepy from arising earlier than normal (for the special four-hour AM edition), Kiran made a somewhat strange and rather amusing observation about the ninth rescued miner, Mario Gomez, as he returned from the bowels of the earth. Before Gomez took his ride upward in the Phoenix capsule, Kiran stated that he had “said that he was the spiritual leader” of the miners in letters to his wife from the mine.* Shortly thereafter, when Gomez had emerged from the capsule (with a crucifix around his neck) and had embraced his wife, he then immediately knelt on the ground with his head bowed, his hands clasped, and his lips moving silently: Apparently, oblivious to the obvious, Kiran commented, “We’re seeing him sit down there for a moment. Uh, we haven’t seen the other miners do this.”** Coming to her aid posthaste, John responded, “I expect that he’s saying a prayer.”
Later, after giving her his insight on prayer, John, apparently, decided to “teach” Kiran about the more secular “moment of silence.” As AM was concluding and after CNN Newsroom anchor Kyra Phillips had taken the toss, Kyra remarked, “We’re talking about all these moments being so emotional and so passionate but at the same time, I think we’ve all recognized how faithful these guys are….[T]hat was amazing when Gomez came up and dropped to his knees in prayer. I mean, it was incredible!”*** Subsequently, as Kiran quietly began to arrange her papers, this time a wiser John subtly put his fingers to his lips as if to silence her. Looking over at him, a smiling Kiran stopped straightening her papers and put them down straightaway.
AM today: A poignant program, a simple prayer, and no Roberts’ rebuke redux. Not bad.
*American Morning – 10/13/10 (@ 6:40a.m. ET)
**American Morning – 10/13/10 (@7:03 a.m. ET)
***American Morning – 10/13/10 (@ 9:00 a.m. ET)
Carpe Diem 